'If there’s a special session after Tuesday’s elections—and it’s a possibility that there will be, to deal with Sandyrelated issues — there’s still a chance the pay raise will be on the table.'
— Source close to the administration of Gov. Cuomo (above), discussing the possibility of a pay raise for state lawmakers Photo:

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ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo and legislators are still pushing for a pay raise for lawmakers — even in the midst of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, The Post has learned.

And the salary increase may be secured in a post-election special legislative session that’s supposed to deal with hurricane-relief issues, sources said.

The pay raise will be harder to justify because of Sandy’s impact on the region — including more than 100,000 homes damaged — but Cuomo and the leaders plan to push for it anyway, the sources said.

“It’s harder now after Sandy, but it’s still a possibility,’’ said a source close to the Cuomo administration and the legislative leaders.

“If there’s a special session after Tuesday’s elections — and it’s a possibility that there will be, to deal with Sandy-related issues — there’s still a chance the pay raise will be on the table,’’ the source continued.

Cuomo wants to link the pay raise — the first for lawmakers since 1999 — to ethics reforms, a higher state minimum wage, and a salary increase for his top aides and commissioners, whose pay has also been frozen for 14 years.

Many of Cuomo’s aides make less money than their deputies, and the governor has complained that their pay is often so low that he can’t recruit top-flight talent for the state’s workforce.

While state lawmakers have traditionally linked hiking their own pay to raises for the governor’s top aides, Cuomo could end-run that practice in the new budget he’ll propose early next year, the sources said.

Recent state court rulings have ended the Legislature’s traditional right to remove or alter individual appropriations in a governor’s budget by, for instance, taking out executive pay increases unless legislative pay hikes were included as well.

The rulings mean Cuomo could include pay raises for his aides in the budget, leaving lawmakers with the choice of either accepting or rejecting the entire budget, something they don’t want to do.

They are barred by law from raising their pay during their two-year terms of office, so if they don’t authorize a hike before the end of the year, effective Jan. 1, they won’t be eligible for a salary increase until 2015, at the earliest.

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MTA Chairman and Executive Director Joseph Lhota, described by Cuomo administration insiders as a “superstar’’ for his handling of the Sandy disaster, is being talked up in state Republican circles as a possible candidate for New York City mayor next year.

“He’s been great for a long time going back to [Mayor Rudy] Giuliani’s days, and he’d be a great candidate next year,’’ said one of the state’s best-known Republican leaders.

The city’s five GOP chairmen have been stymied in their efforts to recruit a top-flight candidate to run for mayor. Their bids to convince Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to run have so far been rejected.

Lhota, a deputy mayor for operations under Giuliani, was put in his MTA job earlier this year by Democrat Cuomo.

While Lhota has indicated that he’s not interested in running for mayor, one GOP activist noted, “A lot of things can happen between now and next year’s Election Day.’’

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Leaders from both major parties are predicting that sharply reduced voter turnouts in areas hard hit by Sandy could alter the outcomes in several hotly fought contests in tomorrow’s balloting.

Republicans fear that Queens City Councilman Eric Ulrich’s once-promising chance for defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Joseph Addabbo will be upended because several GOP voter strongholds were severely damaged by the storm.

They also fear that support for Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis in her battle against Democrat John Mancuso will be sharply reduced because of Sandy-related damage in the hard-hit borough.

Democrats, meanwhile, worry that the massive damage in Long Beach, a traditional center of party support, could cost longtime incumbent Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg his seat in his race against Republican David Sussman.